Kansas City-area woman receives opera's most prestigious award

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Her mezzo-soprano vocals have delighted audiences as far away as Italy. But despite her success, Clay County resident Joyce DiDonato, 33, was surprised this week to learn she has been awarded the 2002 Richard Tucker Award, opera's most prestigious prize.

The New York-based foundation that gives the award announced the decision by its five-member jury on Wednesday. The annual award carries a cash prize of $30,000 and the opportunity to sing in October at the foundation's annual gala, which is broadcast nationally on PBS and attended by representatives of major opera companies.

"It came out of the blue," DiDonato, a native of Prairie Village, Kan. said Wednesday from Paris. "I'm still sort of thinking they're going to come back and say oops, sorry, we were actually thinking of someone else."